Oscillatable die head in a heading machine



July 17, 1956 Y 2,754,527

OSCILLATABLE DIE HEAD IN A HEADING MACHINE Original Filed O01;v 8, 1948 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 ill/'11,)!!! ill/11114 [nvenZZr' [F0 barf [B1436 July 17, 1956 R Y 2,754,527

OSCILLATABLE DIE HEAD IN A HEADING MACHINE Original Filed Oct. 8, 1948 v 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 j 2 9- 6 g. '3 g. 8

23 23a, 236 g Q YET-L I Im/enZEr Robert R. Aiiey United States Patent OSCILLATABLE DIE HEAD IN A HEADING MACHINE Robert R. Akey, Rockford, Ill., assignor to Joseph liehr & Sons, Inc., Rockford, 111., a corporation of Illinois Original application October 8 1948 Serial No. 53,461,

now Patent No. 2,664,579, dated .Itinuary 5, Divided and this application May 18, 1953, Serial No. 355,444

12 Claims. (Cl. -13) This application is a division of my cop'ending application, Serial No. 53,461, filed October 8, 1948, which resulted in Patent No. 2,664,579, issued January 5, 1 954.

This invention relates to headers or upsetting machlnes.

In such machines it is common practice intermittently to feed the stock, such as a wire or rod, into the machine and cut ofl blanks therefrom, which are transferred to appropriate tools, where, after two or more operations are performed thereon, the headed or upset blanks are e ected.

Headers as heretofore designed and constructed were capable of producing a completed rivet or bolt with every two revolutions of the flywheel. It is the principal object of my invention to provide a header so designed and constructed that a completed rivet or bolt is obtained upon each revolution of the flywheel, which means a one hundred per cent step-up in production.

Another object is to provide a header in which the die head shifts 180 in one direction in one cycle, and is turned back 180 in the next cycle, and has two openings with identical square recesses .in the outer ends thereof, the blank to be upset being entered in the one hole and partially upset, and in the same strokethe previously partially upset blank in the other hole is upset to its final form, providing a head with a square shank under it or any other desired shape, the previously partially upset portion furnishing the bulk of the metal necessary for the square or other shaped shank portion under the head. In connection with the reversible die head there are plungers and back-up pins working in the holes in the die head and arranged to cooperate alternately with a back-up screw to provide proper backing up for the blank .in the initial upsetting operation, to predetermine the extent to which the plunger will be permitted to recede' in the final upsetting operation, as required for the proper forming of the square or other shaped shank under the head. The machine of my invention is so designed that this receding feature is built in at very little added cost, whereas with other headers of other designs it has always been necessary to provide a special receding attachment, costing .in the neighborhood of $1500.00 Moreover, with my improved method of upsetting square-shanked rivets and bolts in two steps, I obtain a much higher grade product, because I have found that there is better continuity of grain between the head and the upset square shank and between the upset shank and the plain shank than has been obtained with other methods, it being well known to what extent the heads on rivets produced on certain headers had a tendency to fracture even though to all outward appearances the rivets seemed to be satisfactory.

In the machine of my invention, the 180 shiftabl'e die head is turned in hearings on the frame instead of on the ram, thereby enabling running at higher speed without too much vibration and, in accordance with my invention, plungers working in guides in the franie and operated under hydraulic pressure transmit the back and forth oscillatory movement to the die head through two series of balls traveling in raceways provided therefor in the bearing for the shifting drum, accurate positioning of the die head at Patented July 17, 1955 opposite extremes of movement being assured by the provision of manually adjustable set screws with which radial projections on the shifting drum come into abutment when the die head has been turned as far as it should go, the balls giving positive movement with minimum friction losses in a relatively simple and economical construction and without danger of any breakage in the event of a jam, because if a jam occurs, pressure merely builds up in the fluid line extending to the operating cylinder, causing a relief valve to be opened for return of fluid to the sump.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Fig. 1 is a plan view of a header embodying the improvements of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section through the die set;

V Fig. 3 is a section on line 3-3 of Figs. 1 and 4 showing the novel shifting mechanism for the reversible die head;

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section on line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. S -is a section similar to a portion of Fig. 3 taken on line 5'5 of Fig. 4, showing the other set of balls in elevation that appear in dotted lines in Fig. 3;

Figs. 6, 7 and 8 show the three stages in the production of a completed rivet or bolt, the blank being shown in Fig. 6, the same blank partially upset being shown in Fig.7, and the finished product in Fig. 8, and

Figs. 9 to 12 are more or less diagrammatic views showing the operation of the dies throughout two complete cycles of the machine.

The same reference numerals are applied to correspondin g parts throughout the views,

Referring .first briefly to Figs. 6 to 12, the reference numeral 23 designates a blank cut by the cut-off knife 24 from the wire .stock- 25' fed through the hole 26 in the cut-off die 27, after the stock has been fed far enough to engage the stop 28 toinsure the correct length of blank. See Figs. l0 and l l. Fig. 10 shows the cut-off knife 24 the cut-off position. Fig. '11,- in full lines, shows the cutoff knife 24 advanced from the cut-off position, that is indicated in dotted lines, to the inserting position. Fig. 12 shows the dies; closed; in the first upsetting operation, the cut-oif knife 24 having been previously retracted to the cut-off position adjacent the cut-off die 27, as it appears in this view. In the first upsetting operation, a conical or pear-shaped head is formed on the end of the blank, as illustrated at 29 in Fig.- 7 on the intermediate form of blank 23a, the blank 23 being entered in hole 30 in die 31 in this operation backed up by a pin 32 in the manner shown in- Figs. 9 and 12, while the outer end is received in a pilot recess 33 in the coning punch 34, ,which moves, as will soon appear, with the ram 35 (Fig. 1) toward and away from the die head 36 that carries the die 31 and another identical die 31 in spaced parallel relation and is shiftable on its longitudinal axis through 180 so that the die 31 cooperates with punch 34 in one cycle, and the die 31' cooperates with punch 34 in the next cycle. The ram carries a finishing punch 37 in spaced parallel relation to the punch 34 to cooperate with whichever of the two dies 31 and 31 is aligned therewith to perform the final upsetting operation producing the conventional flat bottomed rounded head 38 with a square, or other shaped, shank portion 39 under it, depending upon the shape of the recesses 40 in the outer ends of the holes 30 in dies 31 and 31'. See the finally formed blank 23b illustrated in Fig. 8. The reversal of the dies 31 and 31' in relation to the punches 34 and 37 is clearly illustrated by comparison of Figs. 10 and 11, Fig. 10 showing the ejection of a completed rivet or bolt 23b from die 31', and Fig. 11- showing the dies reversed so that die 31' is aligned with punch 34, ready to receive a blank 23 for its initial upsetting operation, the previously initially upset blank 23a in die 31 being at the same time aligned with punch 37 for its final upsetting operation. The conclusion of these two upsetting operations is shown in Fig. 12. The cut-off knife 24 has the usual spring clip 41 thereon, which serves to grip the blank releasably by its end portion and transfer it, as shown in Fig. 11, from the cut-off die 27 to which ever of the dies 31 and 31 is nearest the die 27 in a given cycle. The bell-shaped recess 42 in punch 34 gives ample clearance for the end portion of the blank, so that there is nothing to interfere with the bulging-out of the metal to form the conical or pearshaped head 29 on the intermediate form of blank 23a, shown in Fig. 7, as illustrated in Figs. 9 and 12, the bulging-out at 29 occurring mainly in the recess 40 of whichever of the dies 31 and 31 is aligned with punch 34. The punch 37, on the other hand, has a spheroidal-shaped recess 43, which cooperates with whichever recess 40 is aligned therewith to form the head 38 and shank 39 in the upsetting of the intermediate form of head 29, and special attention is called to the fact that in this final upsetting operation, the blank is allowed to recede, pin 32 being free to back up in whichever die 31 and 31 is aligned with punch 37 for the final upsetting operation. In that way I insure a sharply defined head 38 and shank 39, and, incidentally, also I believe that because the metal is allowed to flow from the recess 40 into the hole 30 in this final upsetting operation, a better continuity of grain between the shank and head of the final rivet or bolt produced is obtained, which accounts for the fact that there is far less tendency for the heads to fracture off when the bolt or rivet is later used. The extent to which the blank recedes in the final upsetting operation is clearly illustrated in Figs. 9 and 12. It is also important to note that with each reciprocation of the punches 34 and 37 a finished bolt or rivet 23b is produced-in other words, one per revolution of the flywheel and crankshaft 45, as compared with one for every two revolutions heretofore, which means one hundred per cent (100%) step-up in production. The crankshaft 45 is connected with the ram 35 by means of a connecting rod 46, and the ram 35 operates in suitable guides 47 provided therefore in the frame 48. As previously mentioned, the ram 35 is the only working part of the present header that is not operated hydraulically, the reason being that positiveness of movement or stroke length is essential in upsetting, because of differences in hardness of different batches of wire stock 25 used. However, a friction drive mechanism (not shown) is provided between the flywheel and crankshaft 45, which, in the event of a severe jam occurring in the machine, will allow slippage, thereby supplementing the safety features provided in this machine by virtue of the hydraulic circuits, as mentioned above.

Referring to Figs. 1 to for identification of the various portions of the machine, the crankshaft 45, as previously stated, is connected by rod 46 with ram 35 to reciprocateit in guides 47, and the ram carries dogs, numbered 64 and 6669 to operate pilot valves 7072 to, in turn, operate main control valves (not shown) to control the delivery of the oil, or other fluid, under pressure from the pump (not shown) to the cylinders 76-78. In that way, at the position of the flywheel, the piston in cylinder 76 is caused to operate a pawl and ratchet drive for feed rolls 50 to feed the wire stock 25 into the machine to the cut-off position, as in Fig. 10, abutting the adjustable stop 28, and also oscillate the rocker arm 82 to move slide 83 and accordingly move pin or plunger 84 forwardly to move the related pin 32 forward also to eject a completed blank 23b, as in Fig. 10. At the 60 position of the flywheel, the piston in cylinder 76 is returned to a retracted position, and the piston 94 in cylinder 77 is operated forwardly to shift the die head 36 through 180 by means of plungers 95 and 96 and columns of bearing balls 97 and 98, as hereinafter more fully described, the plungers reciprocating with the frame 99 relative to guides 100 and having the end of an oscillating arm 101 extending therein for actuation of the frame. The arm 101 is connected by a link 102 with another oscillating arm 103, that is pivotally connected with the piston 94 for oscillation back and forth in the reciprocation of the piston. When the die head 36 shifts through 180, it brings the hole 30, from which the finished rivet or bolt 23b was previously ejected, into position to receive the blank 23, as shown tion 39 on the shank under the head 38 is being produced. In the shifting of the die head 36 through 180, the two plungers 84 revolve with it relative to a bracket 104 (see Fig. 1) that is fixed to the frame 48 and has a right angle outer end portion disposed behind the end of one of the plungers 84, an adjustable back-up screw 105 being provided in this end portion adjustable toward the end of the plunger to provide a positive abutment therefor, and, accordingly, prevent receding of the pin 32 in the initial upsetting operation performed by coming punch 34. A lock nut 106 on screw 105 is tightened to fasten it securely in adjusted position. The pins or plungers 84, which are of enlarged diameter in relation to the diameter of the screw 105, may be flat on their outer ends but are shown rounded to semi-spherical form, as indicated at 107 in Figs. 1 and 2. The plungers 84 are brought alternately into coaxial alignment with screw 105 by the back and forth oscillation of the die head, and each is moved forward in the knockout operation and remains so until brought into alignment with the coning punch 34 and back-up screw 105, at which time the insertion of a new blank into the die 31 or 31' causes pin 32 to be pushed back and it pushes plunger 84 with it into abutment with screw 105. Close accuracy in the registration of the d es 31 and 31' with the punches 34 and 37 is, of course, highly important, and it will soon appear that the plunger ball mechanism for shifting the die head 36 through 180, once for each cycle, insures such close accuracy. The punches 34 and 37, in order to insure accurate positioning thereof are adjustable up and down on a base block 108 slidable in guides 109, a screw 110 being supported in a bracket 111 against endwise movement and threaded in a hole in the block 108. Screws in the block lock it securely in the frame in adjusted position. Punches 34 and 37, which are clamped in recesses in the rotatably adjustable block 113 with the customary gib blocks are adjusted rotatably with the block 113 into exact register with the dies 31 and 31. At the position of the flywheel, the piston in cylinder 78 is operated forwardly causing the cut-off knife 24 to be operated to cut off the blank 23 and transfer it to alignment with the empty hole 30 in whichever one of the dies 31 and 31 is positioned to receive it, as shown in Fig. 11. The ram 35 now moves forward, and punch 34 pushes the blank 23 into the hole 30, and as the dies come together, as shown in Figs. 9 and 12, the initial upsetting operation is performed on this newly inserted blank, and, at the same time, the final upsetting operation is performed on the other previously upset blank by punch 37. Where carriage bolts are being produced, the square shank 39 is formed as the blank recedes into the die 31 or 31', as the case may be, the bulged portion 29 furnishing the bulk of the metal necessary for the square shank portion 39 under the head 38. At the 315 position of the flywheel, with ram 35 moving forward, the piston in cylinder 78 is returned to return the cut-off knife 24 to its starting position to end the cycle. The reason this operation is delayed to this extent is to insure insertion of the blank far enough in the die hole 30 so that the gripping clip 41 in disengaging will not be apt to cause the blank to get cocked. The cut-off knife 24 is disposed at the far end of the blank remote from the upsetting die 34, so that the instant the blanr' greater is pushed part way into the hole 30 by the d-ie 35 the cut-ofi knife 24 can be and is retracted, the upsetting die 34 thereafter finishing the insertion of the blank and, finally, upsetting the projecting end thereof as the dies close. It is common practice to provide for a variation in the timing of withdrawal of the cut-'ofi knife in relation to die movement in headers in relation to the length of the rivets being produced. Thus, shorter rivets will necessitate much closer timing.

Returning now more specifically to the novel ball operation of the oscillatably shiftable die-head 36, illustrated in Figs. 2 to 5, the die-head'is supported on a spindle 136 that is in turn supported in radial and end thrust bearings 137 in the frame and has the knock-out plungers 84 slidable in parallel bores 138 provided therein. Oscillatory movement through 180 is transmitted to the head 36 through the plungers 84 by a drum 139, which has parallel bearings 140 mounted thereon, in which the reduced outer end portions of the plungers 84 are slidably mounted. The drum 139 has two spaced raceways 141 of semicircular shape in cross-section which register with similar raceways 142 provided in the bearing 143 that is mounted on frame 48 in which drum 139 is rotatably received. The raceway 142 in which balls 97 operate extends through a little more than 180" as shown in Fig. 3, and the raceway 142 in which the other set of balls 98 operate extends through a little more than 180 on the diametrically opposite side of the bearing 143, as shown in Fig. '5. There are radially projecting lugs 144 on the drum 139 in diametrically opposed .relation, extending into raceways 142 and serving both as abutments for the balls 97 and 98 and as abutments for engagement with stop screws 145 adjustably mounted in the bearing 143 at the upper ends of the raceways 142, the two sets of balls 97 and 98 being both movable into said raceways at their lower ends from the tangentially extending bores 146 in which the plungers 95 and 96 operate and moving in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction depending upon whether the frame 99 carrying the plungers 95 and 96 is moved in one direction or the other. The frame 99 is positively reciprocated by the hydraulically operated piston 94, but is held resiliently in either limit position by virtue of the fact that the oscillatable arm 101, which transmits movement from the piston 94 to frame 99, engages opposed plungers 147 slidable in bores in the frame and held by coiled compression springs 148 in tight engagement with the opposite sides of the arm 101. Thus, the right hand spring 148 in Fig. 3 is the one active in that case to hold the drum 139 spring pressed against the stop screw 145 at the limit of counterclockwise shifting of the die head 36. Screws 149 threaded in the bores in the frame 99 can be adjusted to increase or decrease the spring pressure and held in adjusted position by the lock nuts shown. Screws 145 are accurately adjusted to align dies 31 and 31' with punches 34 and 37 at both extremes of 180 movement of the die head 36 with drum 139, and lock nuts on these screws are tightened to hold the same in adjusted position. The use of balls 97 and 98 means elimination of all play in the die head shifting mechanism and makes for easy and quiet operation with minimum wear, while permitting general speeding up of the operation of the machine for maximum production.

It is believed the foregoing description conveys a good understanding of the objects and advantages of my invention. The appended claims have been drawn to cover all legitimate modifications and adaptations.

I claim:

1. In a heading die, comprising a die head rotatably mounted in the frame carrying dies in spaced relationship and adapted to occupy either of two operative positions 180 apart, means for turning said die head back and forth through 180 comprising a drum connected with and arranged to turn the die head, a bearing for said drum, the bearing and drum having two sets of mating raceways, each set extending through about in di= ametrically' opposed relation to the other, the drum having radial projections in diametrically opposed relation each movable along one of said raceways, a stop at the end of each of said raceways arranged to engage the projection and accurately limit the rotation of the drum to 180, two ball bores provided in said bearing each communicating with one end of a raceway associated therewith, balls arranged in said bores in columns engaging said projections, and means for applying end thrust on the columns of balls alternately so as to transmit rotary movement to the drum and die head first in one direction through 180 and then in the other through 180.

2. A device as set forth in claim 1, including set screws adjustable in said bearing in the ends of said raceways remote from the ball bores and arranged to engage the radial projections so as to limit rotation of the die head.

3. A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein the bores for the balls are straight and in substantially tangential relation to the raceways, the means for applying end thrust to the columns of balls comprising plungers slidable in said bores and abutting the outermost balls therein, a frame rigidly interconnecting said plungers and guided for reciprocation transversely relative to the axis of said bearing, and means for reciprocating said frame.

4. A device as set forth in claim 1, including set screws adjustable in said bearing in the ends of said raceways remote from the ball bores and arranged to engage the radial projections so as to limit rotation of the die head, the bores for the balls being straight and in sub s'tantially tangential relation to the raceways, the means for applying end thrust to the columns of balls com-- prising plungers slidable in said bores and abutting the outermost balls therein, a frame rigidly interconnecting said plungers and guided for reciprocation trans versely relative to the axis of said bearing, means for reciprocating said frame, and spring means between the frame and the reciprocation means arranged to be loaded, whereby said drum is held under spring-pressure against the set screws in its limit positions.

5. In a heading die, comprising a die head rotatably mounted in the frame carrying dies in spaced relationship and adapted to occupy either of two operative positions a fraction of a revolution apart, means for turning said die head back and forth through said fraction of a revolution comprising a drum connected with and arranged to turn the die head, a bearing for said drum, the bearing and drum having two sets of mating raceways, each set extending through said fraction of a revolution in diametrically opposed relation to the other, the drum having radial projections in circumferentially spaced relation each movable along one of said raceways, a stop at the end of each of said raceways arranged to engage the projection and accurately limit the rotation of the drum to the predetermined fraction of a revolution, two ball bores provided in said bearing each cornmunicating with one end of a raceway associated therewith, balls arranged in said bores in columns engaging said projections, and means for applying end thrust on the columns of balls alternately so as to transmit rotary movement to the drum and die head first in one direction through a fraction of a turn and then in the other through a fraction of a turn.

6. A device as set forth in claim 5, including set screws adjustable in said bearing in the ends of said raceways remote from the ball bores and arranged to engage the radial projections so as to limit rotation of the die head.

7. A device as set forth in claim 5, wherein the bores for the balls are straight and in substantially tangential relation to the raceways, the means for applying end thrust to the columns of balls comprising plungers slidable in said bores and abutting the outermost balls therein, a frame rigidly interconnecting said plungers and guided for reciprocation transversely relative to the axis -7 of said bearing, and means for reciprocating said frame.

8. A device as set forth in claim 5, including set screws adjustable in said bearing in the ends of said raceways remote from the ball bores and arranged to engage the radial projections so as to limit rotation of the die head, the bores for the balls being straight and in substantially tangential relation to the raceways, the means for applying end thrust to the columns of balls comprising plungers slidable in said bores and abutting the outermost balls therein, a frame rigidly interconnecting said plungers and guided for reciprocation transversely relative to the axis of said bearing, means for reciprocating said frame, and spring means between the frame and the reciprocation means arranged to be loaded, whereby said drum is held under spring-pressure against the set screws in its limit positions.

9. In a machine of the character described, the combination of a bearing and a rotatable part received therein and arranged to be turned through a predetermined angularity in either direction, the bearing and rotatable part having two sets of mating raceways, each set extending through a fraction of a revolution in diametrically opposed relation to the other, the rotatable part having radial projections in circumferentially spaced relation each movable along one of said raceways, a stop at the end of each of said raceways arranged to engage the projection and accurately limit the rotation of the part to a predetermined fraction of a revolution, two ball bores provided in said bearing each communicating with one end of a raceway associated therewith, balls arranged in said bores in columns engaging said projections, and

means for applying end thrust on either of the columns of balls to transmit rotary movement to the rotatable part.

10. A machine as set forth in claim 9, including set screws adjustable in said bearings in the ends of said raceways remote from the ball bores and arranged to engage the radial projections to limit rotation of the rotatable part.

11. In a machine of the character described, the combination of a bearing and a rotatable part received therein and arranged to be turned through a predetermined angularity, the bearing and rotatable part having a set of mating raceways extending through a fraction of a revolution, the rotatable part having a radial projection movable along said raceway, a stop at the end of said raceway arranged to engage the projection and accurately limit the rotation of the rotatable part to a predetermined fraction of a revolution, a ball bore provided in said bearing communicating with one end of the raceway, balls arranged in said bore in a column engaging said projection, and means for applying end thrust on the column of balls to transmit rotary movement to the rotatable part.

12. A machine as set forth in claim 11, including a set screw adjustable in said bearing in the end of said raceway remote from the ball bore and arranged to engage the radial projection to limit rotation of the rotatable part.

2,664,579 Akey Jan. 5, 1954 

